Families, local leaders push for San Bruno gas-pipe legislation

Just a few hundred feet from the spot where her daughter was killed last year in a PG&E gas-pipe explosion, Rene Morales fought back tears Tuesday as she urged state lawmakers to back pipeline-safety legislation headed for a vote later this week.

"My life is forever changed because my daughter Jessica is no longer here with me," said Morales, her voice trembling. Jessica, 20, was one of eight people killed in the blast. "I can't express strongly enough how important it is that we all come together and support this."

Surrounded by survivors of the fire and elected officials at a news conference in the San Bruno neighborhood ravaged by the Sept. 9 blast, Morales threw her support behind Assembly Bill 56, which would require automatic or remote-controlled valves on large gas pipes in highly populated areas. The valves can stop the flow in a matter of minutes -- instead of the more than an hour and a half it took Pacific Gas & Electric to close its manual valves on the ruptured line.

The bill by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, which is slated to be voted on by the state Senate later this week, also calls for yearly meetings on emergency-response plans between utilities and local fire departments. It is one of the seven key remaining provisions in the San Mateo Democrat's proposal, which he said he had to dilute because of resistance from state utilities.

Advertisement

AB 56 initially included a provision that would have required state regulators to consider a utility's safety record when deciding how much profit it is permitted to make. Hill said lobbyists pressured him as well as lawmakers on the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee to remove the language. Rather than let them kill the whole bill, he said, he agreed to the change.

PG&E was among those who lobbied to water down the original bill. A video recording of a July 5 Energy, Utilities and Communications hearing on AB 56 includes PG&E government affairs manager Kent Kauss arguing against a tie between the company's safety and profits. He said the state already has the power to do that, adding that a new rule linked to the company's rate of return could drive away investors. A state analyst also wrote in a breakdown of the bill that the profit provision ran the risk of blurring the distinction between the California Public Utilities Commission's enforcement and rate setting roles.

PG&E spokesman Brian Swanson said Tuesday the utility is not against the bill in its current form.

"We're not waiting for new laws or new regulations," he said. "We are already taking aggressive action to modernize our gas system."

Hill announced two other proposed pieces of legislation Tuesday, including one that would extend legal protections for whistle-blowers to utility employees. He said they are currently not covered and can face reprisals. His other proposal would create a new job at the PUC entirely devoted to safety.

Two other pipeline safety proposals have already made it through the legislature and are awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown's signature. SB 216 from state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, requires automatic or remotely operated shut-off valves in highly populated areas and earthquake fault zones. The other law was penned by Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, and requires the PUC to set strict emergency-response standards for natural gas operators.

Even without the link to profit, San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane backed Hill's proposed rule and asked any legislator not intending to support it to come and see the destruction in his city.

"I challenge them today to visit us and then, in their hearts, tell me why they can't vote for this legislation," Ruane said, with the blast crater behind him. "This has to be unanimous. It's very important."

Also Tuesday, the PUC acknowledged its investigation of PG&E is taking longer than expected. A completed report will be done by late February at the earliest, rather than December, a commission lawyer said during a PUC hearing Tuesday.

The PUC is investigating the utility's record-keeping to determine whether it was deficient and unsafe, particularly regarding the San Bruno segment that blew up; whether incomplete and inaccurate records contributed to the explosion; whether any laws or safety standards were violated and, if so, what the penalty should be.

PG&E has been widely criticized for sloppy record-keeping, most recently by the National Transportation Safety Board at a hearing in Washington, D.C.

The NTSB discovered that PG&E records inaccurately described the section of pipe that exploded, and the PUC is looking into whether accurate records might have prevented the tragedy.

PUC lawyer Robert Cagen told Administrative Law Judge Amy C. Yip-Kikugawa at a hearing Tuesday that the commission's investigators won't be able to finish their work and produce a report until late February at the earliest.

Investigators are wading through 30,000 to 40,000 documents submitted by PG&E, said Cagen, adding that the utility recently submitted the documents in searchable form.

One consultant is working on them and the PUC is waiting for approval to retain two more document consultants, he said.

Yip-Kikugawa said she will schedule the next hearing for sometime in the first two weeks of November.

Once the investigation is done, the commission will consider penalties.

That phase of the inquiry will determine whether the explosion would have been prevented through accurate record-keeping.

Contact Joshua Melvin at 650-348-4335.

null

lobbying for more utility public safety regulations

AB 56: Assembly bill would require automatic or remote-controlled valves on large gas pipes in highly populated areas.Other proposals: Two are extending legal protections for whistle-blowers to utility employees and a new PUC post ﻿devoted to safety.